COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Fish camp has been a staple of Aggie tradition for almost 70 years, being the introduction for many students to what Texas A&M University unique.
As the school’s population has grown, the camp’s current location at Lakeview Methodist Conference Center, which is located two hours away from the campus, is no longer the best option to house the many incoming freshmen that are looking to get their first taste of what it's like to be an Aggie.
"In order to look at our ability to host every incoming first year or freshman student that wants to go to fish camp at Texas A&M University we need almost 13,000 spaces for that to happen as our student body continues to grow," said Associate Vice President of the Division of Student Affairs Dr. Vicki Dobiyanski. "Currently we’re only able to meet about half of that, so we want the opportunity for every freshman to go to fish camp and be able to do that in a space. Another driving factor is proximity to campus. We spend almost 2 hours driving to camp and is there an opportunity to come closer.”
With more than 6,000 incoming freshmen that participate in fish camp, the university is making safety their top priority.
"If there were ever a crisis or an emergency situation, while we do have a senior administrator on campus for camp, to be able to get campus support if there was something like that to happen it would take us almost 2 hours to do, and when you have that many students, an official program of Texas A&M that far away it allows us to bring it in closer and be more responsive," said Dr. Dobiyanski.
A collaboration between the division of student affairs and the office of risk, ethics and compliance, will be in charge of finding a safe space for freshmen.
However, until a new fish camp location is announced, there will not be any changes to the camp's current location and programs.